Tahiti: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Like other islands in the Society group, Tahiti is the creation of volcanic eruptions. The larger circle of Tahiti, Tahiti Nui, came into existence around two-and-a-half to three million years ago. The smaller circle, Tahiti Iti, was created less than a million years ago.

Tahiti was not the first of the Society group to be populated in the great Polynesian migrations. Legends have the first settlers arriving in Tahiti from Ra'iatea, which was the most politically important island despite being much smaller than Tahiti.

Tahiti's importance increased as more and more European visitors chose to make the island their preferred base and the island soon became a minor pawn in the European colonial quest. In 1769, when Cook anchored in Matavai Bay (Baie de Matavai), there was no settlement in Pape'ete.

Visiting whaling ships made Pape'ete an increasingly important port, and it was selected as the administrative headquarters for the new French protectorate in 1843. By 1860 the town had taken its present form, with a straggling European settlement between the waterfront and the street known as the Broom (now Rue du Commandant Destremeau, Rue du Général de Gaulle and Rue du Maréchal Foch).

Modern History

Chinese merchants and shopkeepers also started to trickle in to Pape'ete, but at the beginning of the 20th century the population was still less than 5000. A disastrous cyclone in 1906 and a German naval bombardment in 1914 took a toll, but during WWII the population reached 10,000 and by the early 1960s it was over 20,000.

The opening of Faa'a Airport in the 1960s kick-started the tourist industry, while French nuclear testing brought in basketfuls of money. The huge expansion of administrative and government jobs lured a flood of people from other islands.

Recent History

This type of rapid expansion usually has its flipside, and the last few decades have seen the almost total destruction of the charming old colonial heart of Pape'ete. Tahiti's population is currently about 170,000, which constitutes more than 60% of French Polynesia's entire population. Tahiti is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia.

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